It would be wrong to assume that everyone picked up for a DUI is guilty, particularly when there are so many gold stars given to the boys and girls in blue for arrests. It is human nature to fudge those arrests.

In 1982 I was arrested late at night. I was speeding. I pulled over. Here in Michigan, empty bottles and cans are worth 10 cents apiece. In 1982 that added up to real money. I did not take back bottles and cans very often - usually when I was strapped for cash. The result is that I had a lot (a lot) of empty beer cans on the floor in the back seat of my car. I couldn't use the trunk, as it had a giant hole rusted through it. I was driving a 71 Pontiac Grand Ville with 455 and 4 barrel carburetor. I had rebuilt both the year before. I went really fast. The police, instead of asking questions jumped to the wrong conclusion. (I had 3 beers - 10 hours before!) Following what I assume to be Redford police procedure, they called over another 3 or 4 police cars and they proceeded to beat the crap out of me on the side of the road. When they finally hauled me into the station, that is when someone finally performed a breathalyzer. I was stone cold sober. He did another one. Ditto. He did a third. Ditto. Then he proceeded to write down numbers that said I was drunk, irregardless of breathalyzer results. They had beat the crap out of me, and if I was sober I could sue. So he made me drunk. (Apparently in Michigan drunks have no rights.) I got to try to sleep on a board covered with vinyl - their version of a bed. Lots of fines, etc. In the end, they dropped it to driving while impaired, a lesser charge than drunk. Oh, and their towing and overcharging service destroyed my front bumper. Yes, the bumper that could have pulled a tree out of the ground, they found a way to twist and kink it so the bottom edge faced sky and the right and left sides were at a 45 degree angle with each other (they originally had like a 10 degree angle - the shape of Pontiac front ends in 71). In 1982 dollars: $50 bail, $150 fine, $100 towing and storage, total $300. Mind you, a year and a half before that, when I bought the car, I only paid $25 to have it towed 15 miles (30 round trip for tow truck) in a snowstorm! Most tows were $15. Gas was like 89 cents a gallon. (I might be remembering that wrong, but it was less than $1.25 a gallon, because that was what I paid in Missouri in May of that year - it was the most I ever paid per gallon, or to fill up: $30. It was a 30 gallon tank, but I always paid $20 or less before that, and again after that - for years.)

Uh, guess what!I just found out that this may be happening in Denver, as well.Rumor is that there is a hush-hush class-action suit going on where Denver cops have been setting up people to impound their cars, because the city gets part of the impound fees.Story goes that a highly paid professional did an FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request to find other people who had had their cars impounded and, then, had charges dropped.

Very scary for anyone who drives in Denver.I already know that, if you park downtown, they are tasked with finding any reason possible to ticket you, including lack of a front license plate :(

Forget about life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.It is all about the money.

"Law enforcement should not be a contest! "- TXRanger09 you have that absolutely correct. Thank you.This whole story reflects very badly on UHP, Utah, the Utah court system and law enforcement in general. Massive punishment needs to be handed out to all those involved and those charged with oversight.

Steed was named Utah Highway Patrol's "Trooper of the Year" in 2007 for making more than 200 DUI arrests, a reward that Studebaker says should be taken away from her.--------------Law enforcement should not be a contest!